Cost to Replace a Stair Railing

Save money by replacing a wooden stair railing for $145 yourself compared with the cost of hiring a contractor for $408, which includes labor and material. Customize the cost to where you live with your ZIP Code.

Cost to Replace a Stair Railing

Save money by replacing a wooden stair railing for $145 yourself compared with the cost of hiring a contractor for $408, which includes labor and material. Customize the cost to where you live with your ZIP Code.

Going up or down stairs from one level of a home to another will be safe and attractive by upgrading a stair railing with a new hardwood railing. It’s sure to be noticed for its traditional good looks and you'll feel more secure everytime you use it. The project requires some woodworking skills, but the job is made easier using a post-to-post stair system. It is called post-to-post because the handrail runs between the posts, unlike an over-the-post system with handrails running over the newel posts using fittings on the handrail.

A carpenter will charge $408 to remove a metal railing and replace it with a 5-foot-long, 32-inch-high prefinished oak railing and balusters on the second-floor landing of a house. This includes the labor and material. A handy homeowner with carpentry skills and tools can do the job for $145, the cost of the railing’s components, which include a wooden railing with balusters (sometimes called spindles), a newel post, wall brackets and the hardware fittings to install it. The fittings are bolted to the posts with lag bolts and the balusters are screwed down to the floor. To help you through the measuring and design process, go to www.ljsmith.net, the website of a stair component manufacturer that’s very useful for a budding carpenter with a stair railing project.

That sums it up. Knowing the average cost to replace a stair railing lets you compare doing it yourself with what you can expect to pay a contractor. To customize the cost to where you live add your ZIP Code in the cost box.

Improvement and Repair Cost Updated 2019

The cost and time data is generated by averaging labor and material data from annually updated cost books used by contractors and refined by the authors'
experience remodeling 13 houses. They are authors of 20 home improvement books and Do It Yourself or Not, a weekly column syndicated by Tribune Content
Agency. The national cost can be adjusted by ZIP Code.